News Archive - March 2001

Access
For People With Disabilities in Caithness
Caithness.Org has
commenced a section on Access For People
With Disabilities. The main aim will be over time to produce
an Access Guide To Caithness. This will be built gradually
as we collate information on buildings, places to stay, restaurants and
other facilities. You can all play a part by sending us
information on facilities in Caithness to let everyone else know what is
available. We will add links to national information web sites
with useful information. Unlike traditional paper based guides we
can start letting people know what we know right away without waiting to
gather every bit of detail. With everyone's help It will not take
long so lets go.

30th March 2001

School Days Section 17 New Pictures In
A collection of 17 pictures from Miller
Academy Centenary year 1962 are now in the section. If you have
one from that year not shown then get in touch. Mr Lannon, the
headmaster would like to complete the set and get copies of yours.
Send in any pictures as jpeg files or lend us your picture to
scan. If you have a list of names for any picture we can add it.

E-Access Bulletin
For Visually Impaired Interests
This E-zine can be obtained every month
free of charge. Reproduced here to let you see what's in it and go
and sign up if the topic is of interest. Keeping you up to date
with the latest developments in the field.

Battery Plant On Major Expansion In Thurso
AEA Technology Batteries & Power Management Systems is getting ready
launch a significant expansion of its operation in Thurso. The
launch today of a major recruitment drive for over 30 new staff at all
levels from clerical through to design engineers, software engineers,
production and technical posts and many others shows long term
commitment being made in expanding the capacity of the plant. Check
the Jobs Pages

Caithness
Multimedia Expansion Creates New Jobs
New developments at Caithness Multimedia
Ltd mean their requirements for new staff with multimedia, programming
and design skills has increased. New job opportunities feature in
the Caithness Business Pages.

Subterranean
Landscape Blues
A new exhibition including a short film about the subterranean
tunnels in Easter Ross built to hold the entire North Atlantic Fleets'
oil reserve. A fascinating story on at St Fergus Gallery,
Wick. 31 March to 12 April.
See the page for more details.

Lyth Arts Centre New Season
Lyth Arts Caithness theatre in the
countryside starts its new season in April and presents two outstanding
groups -
Shine - New Celtic Music and
The Scottish Guitar Quintet - Jazz

Jenny The Potter Is Back
Looking for a giant fossil then get on over to North Shore Pottery
where Jenny has returned from her sojourn in Spain. Getting into
full swing with her unique salt fired pottery Jenny is fired up and
ready to throw that clay.

49-51 Reunion Sold Out Already
If you needed any evidence of the power of
the Internet then this might prove it. With over four months to go
all 160 tickets have been snapped up. With a very focused team and
using Caithness.org the tickets have moved faster than anyone
expected. Only reservations for cancellations are now available. Caithness.org is happy to assist any other
reunions with pages FREE of charge.

Another Sporty Web Site
They
are coming thick and fast now. Caithness must be one of the
fastest growing areas on the Internet. We are announcing new web
sites all the time. The latest is
"E Big H" www.ebigh.com. All the latest news on Caithness
Badminton Club. Thurso Squash Club & when the season starts -
Halkirk Football Club.

John O'Groats School
1926Full marks to the teacher in this photo who thought to have one
of her pupils holding a slate with name and June 1926 on it.
Thanks to Hugh Ross for sending it in.

Visitor Records Broken Again In MarchWith a week still to go visitors to Caithness.Org have smashed
last months highest ever total. Total hits have passed 859,117
with visitors at 32,462 looking at 172,707 pages. Thanks for your
support. We still do not know when you will get fed up with us and
surf off to web sites new. Keep your requests coming and send us any
pictures of Caithness old or new for inclusion on the pages. End
of March figures look like being blockbusters. A million hits
looks as if it will be broken in March. Thanks again.

Wellbeck EstatesIf you thought the first set of Berriedale showed some nice
views then I am afraid as you go inland it just gets better and
better. This is a popular route for walkers who should call at the
keepers house as there is no one for many miles as you go inland should
you get lost. This forms part of the estate and there is a route
up to the top of Morven currently covered in snow as in the pictures in
the last set.

Have
a Vintage Holiday in CaithnessCan't promise a vintage Rolls Royce like these at the Portland
Arms Hotel but everyone who Comes to Caithness is glad they
did. Apart from the empty roads to drive on (population in the
north of Scotland is the lowest in Britain) you will get a warm and
genuine welcome from everyone. See the coast, harbours, history,
museums, churches, castles, meet the people, enjoy food, relax and
breathe the fresh air. And yes its windy.

This
Is An Office In Caithness
Some people have all the luck and work in
picturesque offices like this. This is the Wellbeck Estates Office
in Berriedale. Later today the camera will point the other way for
even more views. I know I know but we have to sleep sometimes.

See Thurso or Wick and Villages by Local Bus
This Blue Highland bus was waiting to start its trip round Wick this
morning.
If you visit Caithness without a car or even if you want to leave it
for a while you can see a lot of Thurso, Wick and other villages on the
bus. Its cheap and you can sit and see the place while someone
else does the driving. Just ask people on the bus what you are
passing and they will soon help you out.

News Coordination Centre Foot & Mouth Latest
This web site gives you links to all the
latest sources of information and how it affects various sectors from
farming to tourism. Answers questions about where you can and
cannot go. Forget the rumours check it out here. If you are
looking for the link later you will now find one in our
Newsfeeds and Links
pages.

Caithness Web Sites - The Pace Quickens
Caithness is creating web sites at a faster
rate now and Wick Players have just announced that they will shortly be
found at www.wickplayers.co.uk
so bookmark another web site or find it later in our listings of Caithness
non-business sites. You will find Caithness
Business Web sites in our Caithness
Business Pages. Let us know about your new website
to get listed and get found. Talk to us about building a web page
that gets seen.

Help Your Neighbour Get Their Free Page
All businesses in Caithness can get a free
entry in the Caithness
Business Pages. But they might not be on the
Internet. If you know of a business not in our pages help us to
help them by letting us know who is missing. We will do the
rest. We will contact them and build their free page.
Caithness.org and the Caithness Business Pages aims to give every
business in Caithness a presence on the Internet so they do not miss
out. There is no catch. Almost a thousand others are already
in.

One Million Pound Seal Centre
The Seal Centre previously proposed for
Castlehill now looks as if it will be built at John O'Groats.
Although a sanctuary for seals it is certain to become an attraction for
visitors to the county and will be built with this in mind. The
change in site has arisen following doubts about the water quality at
Castlehill.

Barrogill Street, WickThis short street in Wick has houses and for the last few years
sees lots of activities when the weekly auctions sale is on at Coghill's
Auction in the Barrogill Hall. The familiar van with the logo
"Yer Local Man" is often to be seen making pick ups and
deliveries around Caithness. Apart from weekly auctions of
household and other goods on a Friday evening there are antique sales
when there is usually a lot of interest.

Wick's French Connection
Bord de l'Eau opened its doors for the first time this week.
Dany and Janice Cretien chose the name which means "edge of the
water" as the restaurant looks out on the Wick river. Dany
hails from Agen near Bordeaux and is a trained chef. They will
offer a range of French and European dishes at affordable prices.
French wine of course.

1000 Lorries A Month To Build New Scrabster Pier
In 18 months Scrabster will have its new
pier capable of taking much larger ferries and with covered walkways for
passengers to the terminal building. Costing over £16 million
there will be many new jobs created during the construction period.

Wick Planters To Expand
Wick will bloom more than ever this year as
schools are to add a further 38 hanging baskets of flowers to the 40 put
up by a local contractor. The local gardening club will also
provide large will planters and arrange for flowers. In addition
there will be a competition for hanging baskets in private gardens this
year. A further plan to build three large raised boxes of flowers
on each road into the town is being looked at.

Latheron Hall Open Day
Saturday 31st March 12 noon - 4 p.m. Various sports activities
will be on display and to try out, plus displays of other activities in
the hall. The committee would also like people to come along and give
constructive suggestions on activities they would like to have there on
a regular basis, and it is an ideal opportunity for those looking at the
hall as a possible venue to come and see the hall.

Message
from Aussie for The Academy Reunion
Its not over till
its over and it looks likely to run and run. So cracking on to the
Reunion Follow ups. Anyone else from the night is welcome to send
in their comments , views or witty points within reason.

Academy Pictures from 1946, 1947, 1948
These pictures have been received from
Germany for three years of one class at Academy in Wick. No names
as yet. Getting digging in those old boxes and tines for more.

Caithness
Classic Motor Cycle Club Rally 2001
Sunday 20th May - Meet at Lybster
Main St 10:00am
Run starts at 11.00am
With so many rallies being cancelled due to Foot & Mouth the
Caithness one which will be held totally on public roads this year is
sure to be popular. Already over 130 have booked so get your form
and payment in soon(7 May latest) to allow for catering and other
arrangements.

19th March 2001

Forss Country House Hotel
Forss Area Page has been given a
upgrade with the inclusion of pictures of Forss Mill and a few of Forss
Country House Hotel where you can have an excellent meal and sample one
of the huge range of malt whiskies whilst relaxing by an open fire
looking out over the river which runs by the old mill.

The Sea Exhibition of Paintings and PhotographsExhibition finished 24 March 2001 -More pictures coming to
Caithness.Org soon. The exhibition of paintings and pictures on "The Sea"
from the family albums of pupils at Hillhead school is on for the rest
of this week at the St Fergus Gallery in Wick. The times for his
remarkable exhibition are in the What's On. Pictures have been framed to a high standard
and are available for sale at £15 each but only a few are left.

Election In The North On The Web
Thurso Branch of The
Scottish National Party have launched a web site in support of their
candidate John MacAdam. Caithness.Org is linking all the local
information with biographies and later on statements from all the
candidates. We hear more web sites may be on the way for other
candidates making this the first time the parliamentary election for
Caithness, Sutherland and East Ross-shire has been fought in this way.

What's The European Union All About?
Caithness.Org has
added a substantial number of to links to EU sites. Whatever your
interest in Europe you find a start into finding out about the Organisations,
Parliament, Business, Funding for business and the voluntary sector.

Charities And The Internet
OK we know its overwhelming but is your group making the most of the Internet.
A new report brings you the latest research.

Community Web Sites
Our listing of area
community and other web sites is still growing but if you know of any
now listed send us the details to include in the lists

School
Days
The response to our request for school pictures has been very
fast. We have started the new section with two pictures just in
for Canisbay 1932 above and Miller Academy 1951-52 Class
3a. Many thanks to Allan Lannon and Hugh Ross for the
pictures. If anyone would like to add to the section just send in
a picture by email or loan it to us for scanning.

Election
Eye On Caithness.Org
Up to the general
election Caithness.Org will bring you pages on the candidates to let you
see who you are voting for and what there policies are.
Caithness.Org will publish biographies and a statement up to 1500 words
from each candidate.

Caithness County Indoor Bowling 2001The 2001 annual Caithness Indoor Bowling Association competition
saw 31 teams from all over Caithness compete. The final was very
close with Dunbeath A winning 10 - 9 over Watten A. Nail biting to
the end.

Miller Academy - Red Nose Day
With wearing red
maybe it would make a good school uniform. You could not miss them
like this. More pictures inside.

School
Days
If you have any pictures from your school
days you think other people might like to see then send a jpeg file by
email or let us have loan of the picture to scan and we will make page
for it. It can be anything class photo, sports, school play or
other activity recent or many years ago.

Big
Turnout For Bygone Thurso Talk
Over 250 people packed the British Legion Hall in Thurso to hear Alan
McIvor and see his slides of Bygone Thurso. Organisers were taken aback
by the record crowd and really pleased as the funds raised go to the
Thurso Heritage Society Museum.

Playden
Nursery New Page
This nursery has
been running for over 30 years in Thurso. A list of Caithness
playgroups and nurseries is in the Social
Pages. If your group is not listed get in touch and get
the details on Caithness.Org. Its FREE to all non-profits.

15th March 2001

Holidays In CaithnessNew
Weigh Inn, Thurso
Although the weather
is not quite spring like hotels and guest houses are all ready for the
season. Caithness boasts some comfortable and well known
hotels. In Wick Mackays
Hotel maintains high standards and offers free golf
at courses in Caithness and in recent years has refurbished
extensively throughout whilst the New
Weigh Inn has been completely rebuilt. Caithness.Org New
Business Pages have Hotels,
Bed
& Breakfast,Caravan
& Camping. Caithness.Org and the Caithness Business
Pages continue to add new information every week to ensure you can find
everything in Caithness. Much is in but there is still more on its
way. Come and see it all for yourself. Let us know if you
need any assistance locating information about Caithness.

Scrabster House
This building now is a great residence to a number of houses as
it is divided into flats with a great view.

Navy
Knickers - Horror of Horrors?Remembering school days in the reunion pages has brought out
this memory of PE and running around in your underwear - It must have
done you good? What horrors from school does anyone else
remember. We will add them to a new page. You do not need to
be attending a reunion.

Severe Disablement
Allowance
Warning -this
benefit is about to end by 31 March.
But if you have it you can keep it for the rest of your life. If
you know a severely disable person ask if they are claiming - Many never
have and it could make a big difference to them. Especially
disabled women whose husbands are working - they think they do not
qualify. They are often mistaken.

Another Thurso Summer Picture
After all that snow this winter another
reminder that Caithness has its balmy hazy days in summer time. It
will soon be time to plant those tatties so check the length of the
shoots before its too late.

Latest Fundraising News For Charities
If you are looking for funds for the work of a charity you are involved in then
why not check out our fundraising page with the latest news from Fundraising
UK.

Dunbeath
From The Air
This view from the Dounreay Exhibition Centre shows the river
flowing past the village just before the harbour.

Aeriel Views of
Caithness
In order to make finding these views easier to
locate we have grouped them in one listing. Any new ones will be
added to the list as well as being found in the normal listing in the A
to Z. If you would like to add to the listing just
get in touch.

What's On Upgrade
Niall has been wrestling with
Netscape problems in the What's On. He thinks he has them licked
now. As a further addition the section will now show school
holidays in Caithness and various bank holidays.

12th March 2001

Wick
Lifesaving Company 1875
This picture was given to us by
Coastguard Station, Wick and permission given by Wick Heritage Centre
for us to reproduce it as they own the copyright to it.

Marie Curie Cancer CareCollection in Safeways Wick - Saturday 10 March
The annual daffodil campaign to raise
funds was assisted by Bill and other volunteers at Safeways in Wick on Saturday
when the sum of £540.82 was raised. Thanks to all of you who have
contributed so far either in Wick, Thurso or elsewhere in Caithness. You can
still contribute to this cause at many shops around Caithness by buying the
small daffodils.

Do You
Remember Teacher's Nicknames?
This short memory jogger from the Wick High
School Reunion group might set some of you thinking about your own
school days. Send in any further contributions on your school day
memories - as far back as you can remember for inclusion on
Caithness.org

49
- 51 Wick High Reunion
Another group from their primary days at Pulteneytown Academy in
1961. Janis says tickets are going fast with over 106 sold at last
count. So don't leave it too long to get yours. This looks like
being a very successful get together on 3rd August in Wick Gala
Week. With another reunion on 2nd August book your room
early. Wick's gonna be busy.

8th March 2001

Thurso Web Pages Makeover Underway
We have commenced an upgrade of the Thurso
pages to improve the look of the pages and include more pictures of
Thurso and the surrounding area. We start off with a new section
entitled Thurso
Summer to help you forget all the cold weather we have been
having. The whole of the Thurso pages will undergo changes in the
next few weeks with additional pictures being added as we renew the
pages. Got a favourite view or historical picture you would like
to see in the section. Then
get in touch.

2001 Festival Preview Northlands Festival
So far confirmed the BBCSSO and The Brazz Brothers from Norway, also
a major exhibition from Wick-born artist Ian Scott who works and
exhibits mainly in New York these days. The festival takes place
each year in September.

The
Sea Exhibition St Fergus Gallery
An exhibition of art work around the theme of 'The Sea', by the
pupils of Primary 5, Primary 6 and Primary 7 of Hillhead Primary School, Wick. The
St Fergus Gallery, Wick, Above
the Library, Sinclair Terrace, Wick.

New
Shebster Page
New page for Shebster with more pictures showing some of the
views from the top of the hill at the Cairn. See Caithness for miles and a long horned cairn
near to another on the northern summit of Ward Hill (Cnoc Freiceadan).

7th March 2001

Trouble With "E Trinkie"
The problems with the Trinkie outdoor pool have been
discussed again by Wick Community Council. Donning campaign mode
once again Caithness.org would like to get a selection of pictures of
The Trinkie when in use and at busier times. If you have pictures
of the Trinkie please send us a copy for us to include in a new section
to be built on the web site under Save The Trinkie. Suggestions
on how Caithness.org might assist the community council to raise money
for the repairs are under consideration and donations have already been
received from Bill's Old Computer Magazine give away.
Picture
of Trinkie Swimming Pool

Line Dancing at Latheron Village Hall
A small group of people met at Latheron Public Hall for the first time
on Tuesday last to start up a Line Dancing Group. We need more. Please
come and join us from 8 - 9p.m. each Tuesday, Adults £1.50, children
&pouund;1.00 (please note children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult)

St
Peter And The Holy Rood
The Episcopal church in Thurso has sent in
new information and updates for its page. If any other churches
would like to add information to the pages we have then please send it
to us. We will then take the opportunity to upgrade the page and
make improvements at the same time.

Reunion
GuidelinesWonder how the people are
organising all these reunions. Well Janis Paterson currently
organising the Wick High School Reunion has kindly written it all down
for Caithness.Org to pass on to any potential reunions needing a few
tips. Also on offer a free copy of her database to keep your
records in easy to use form. Thanks Janis.

Child Protection Training
The course is to be repeated due to heavy
demand. It is open to anyone who represents a youth
organisation. contact Wendy Mackay - Tel 01847 831714 for
further details. It is now a requirement for groups receiving
council funding or hiring premises that they have a child protection
policy. Click Here
for a copy of the guidelines.

Its that Girl AgainPulteneytown Academy carried on with the reunion by hitting the
Silver Darlings restaurant for lunch today proving a few years at school
in Wick gives you stamina for a party however long it lasts......

Wick River Frozen -
In PlacesNear the Island Boys were able to walk over the frozen river
following a week of very low temperatures in the Highlands and more snow
than Caithness has seen for many years.

Pulteney
Reunion
No more
updates. The first reunion we have been featuring is Tonight. Hope you all have an enjoyable evening and maybe we will get a few
pictures of the evening.

Family
History
If you are following
the Family history section. New updates today in the Millers and
Lyalls.

More
Free Courses From Fathom
You can find more Free courses in March at Fathom. This month a variety of new
Journalism courses have been added to the resources. The choice is huge
and growing every month. For example amongst the additions are - MUSIC
FROM THE RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE - Renaissance Precursors to Baroque
Music
RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIONS IN ART - Indian Art and Imperialism
THEATER DESIGN - Joseph Urban: Architect of Dreams
there are a huge range of paid for courses that bring greater depth but
you may just want to dip in and out. Its worth registering for
access to the 60,000 plus free articles on offer.

1st March 2001

Slides
of Bygone Thurso
Friday 16th March 2001, Time - 7.30pm
By - Alan McIvor. Venue - The Royal British Legion
Admission - £2.00
On behalf of the Thurso Heritage Society, to which all money raised will
also go to Museum, a Raffle will also be held.

You
Have Broken The Records Again
Hits 755,708
Pages 169675 Visits 30119 in February
which is 3 days less than January. At current surfing rates
Caithness.Org will have over two million pages seen in the next 12
months. If you keep returning in ever greater numbers we have no
idea what the totals will be. Thanks to you all and for the many
contributions and suggestions you are sending in. We include as
many as we can get to. Our email is overflowing. We
try to reply to everyone.